There is a lot going on at home at the moment but I nipped down to the plot mainly to water my carrot seeds to try to promote germination. If they dry out in the early stages they do not survive so normally I cover them over with a plank to shield them from the drying sun. I forgot to do this on my last visit so I wanted to do this at least.I got there to find I had made all preparations, putting short battens across the row to hold the planks off the ground but forgotten place the planks on top! Before moving the planks into position I watered them of course.While down at the plot I realised I had also forgotten to protect them, and my newly planted cauliflowers, from slug attack. A few slug pellets spread around each did this for me. Two or three pellets for each plant and a dozen or so scattered along the row is quite sufficient. Too many people scatter too many pellets and risk other animals consuming them and getting poisoned. If you use too many it costs you!While at the plot I wanted to sow some parsnips. I put in a couple of rows spacing clusters of 4/5 seeds at six inch intervals but had no radish seeds to mark the seeds. Hopefully I can tell the seedlings from the weeds!Then I did something I will regret! I sowed a row of spinach next to the parsnips. Not that they will interfere but I was trying to concentrate all the long-standing crops at this end of the patch to ease planting and sowing next season. The spinach will come out in August or September and leave a gap that I will not be able to dig over for winter as there will be crops close by on both sides. I will need to find a solution!After adding the contents of my neighbours' green waste bins to my compost bin, I took home a bunch of lettuce thinnings given me by a very kind neighbouring allotmenteer. Made my lunch just a bit more special!

Today I got back to my normal routine in that I spent the afternoon on the plot.At the Trading Hut yesterday I had looked over the plants for sale and bought 3 strips of cauliflower plants that mature at slightly different times, so I set about planting them. I am quite fussy about how I do this, digging a square hole about 4" deep then using a bulb planter to make a planting hole at the bottom. Half a handful of lime is scattered in the hole to help prevent Clubroot.

The lime is stirred into the soil at the bottom of the hole then the cauliflower plant set in the hole. The surrounding lime/soil is used to firm the plant in, burying it quite deeply so only the top shows and any stem is buried.

The hole serves to concentrate any water onto where it is needed and then allows for easy earthing up later. The mature cauliflowers I have been harvesting have had a magnificent root system which is probably why I have been getting such good crops!A small dose of fertilizer at the end of the month will be followed about a month later with a little sulphate of potash to promote the big heads.I hope I am as successful with these summer/autumn cauliflowers as I was with the winter ones!

Before packing up I spent 20 minutes digging over a clear patch of ground to sow some roots. Once again my 'Backsaver' spade came into its own. The hardest part is digging out the initial trench and barrowing it to the other end of the patch. Then, once I start, the ground is quickly turned over! The patch in the picture (5 x 12 feet) took me less than 10 minutes to dig!

The heap of soil in the foreground is ready to shovel into the final trench alongside the path.A quick run over with the hand cultivator and everything is now ready to sow into on my next visit later this week.Finally I harvested a huge heap of Spinach Beet leaves and the last of my leeks, sadly running to seed. (If I had the space to leave one I could have saved some seed for next year!) I also cut a single spear of asparagus - my first from the patch I planted last year. Not sure how I will share it with my wife but.....!Most of the plants appear to have died but the few remaining are just beginning to crop! I look forward to the shoots I found just below the surface coming through!

Been a bit busy recently with sorting the website, renovations at home and trying to catch up on the plot so my blog has been somewhat neglected.So here is the Catch-up entry.On Wednesday I planned to plant out some brassicas, Brussel sprouts and Summer Broccoli. However, the broccoli had started flowering already, probably because I let them almost dry out about a fortnight ago. So planted the Brussels in my new net tunnel after I had reinforced the net fixings with some battens. The wind was vicious and made everything very difficult.I started digging in my green manure using my 'Backsaver' spade, managing a few spits before giving up as the wind kept catching the spade and making me misdirect the blade as I dug!Before going home I harvested the last of the purple sprouting as well as some leeks, swiss chard and rhubarb.Thursday was an early start to help unload a delivery of compost etc. into the Trading Hut at 8am. Afterwards I went onto my plot as I had forgotten to water the Brussel Sprout plants I put in yesterday. While there I did some more digging. My 'Backsaver' spade (actually an original 'Terrex' spade from years ago) is a real 'godsend'. It saves me bending and twisting, something my back will not cope with.

Just by pressing down on the handles, the spit is lifted up and forward onto the ridge. A 'deft' slice cuts off the top layer of grass which drops into the trench.The soil stays in clumps because it is held together by the fine root system of the green manure. Those lumps break down pretty easily and the roots add humus to the soil.It is still quite hard work but much less strain on the back and muscles.I went home with the last of my cauliflowers. Another real beauty that weighed over 4lb.

I have had alot to do at home this week so tonight was the first chance I had to get down to the plot.I got to the plot after six and was surprised at how high my Italian Ryegrass green manure had grown. Thank goodness I had a holiday job many years ago cutting grass - before the days of strimmers, so I made short work of it with my bill hook.

However, as I was swinging my hook I came across a clump of dead grass with a hole underneath. Now I know I have a mole problem but I don't think they use clumps of grass. Anyone got any ideas?

Having cut the grass I realised that there were some jobs I needed to do while the light was still good, so I got on with sowing a row of carrots that were Carrot fly resistant (Maestro F1 from Suttons) and a half a row of beetroot, remembering to leave a plank over the carrot seed to keep the soil damp through the initial germination period. The beetroot should germinate easily though it was old seed (2012) so I sowed quite thickly.

Remembering the weed problem from my last entry I got the hoe out and worked on the onions patch sown this spring. Most of the weeds were so small that they succumbed easily but I left the larger thistles as I know they are very deep rooted and I think the only way I can deal with them is with Glyphosate weedkiller. If I use one that translocates down to the roots then I might have a chance of controlling the problem! I shall have to be very careful and use a trigger spot sprayer to avoid affecting the crops.I then managed to fix one piece of netting to my second brassica tunnel. Thankfully it was plenty long enough.Finally I harvested. First I cut another huge cauliflower - leaving two plants growing strongly and hopefully developing lovely white curds under the leaves.I also dug a few leeks, nothing big but there are still some reasonably thick ones.I then had a choice between a cabbage or Swiss Chard. As the light was fading fast I chose the chard as I was not sure I could see how bad the whitefly/slug problem was on the cabbages. I cut a huge bunch of chard and will choose the best leaves at home but that means bringing the uneatable leaves back down for the compost heap.

The last job was to gather up the cut grass and load it onto the compost heap. There was alot and it took some time to stack it on an already full bin!As I was last of a queue of cars to leave the site in the gathering gloom (I drove right round the site to check noone was still working) I padlocked the gate and scrambled the number - just a little as whoever arrives in the morning, probably quite early, will curse if they have to spend too much time unlocking!

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Hi! As "Webmaster" for this site I feel a bit of a fraud. I am neither an expert at IT nor at growing vegetables. I do enjoy playing at both, however.I have a 10 rod plot in the middle of the site, having transferred in 2012 from a 5 rod plot I had been cultivating for about 5 years. I needed to give myself space to grow a wider range of crops.I will be recording my thoughts and activities on the allotment as well as sharing any knowledge and information I gain in my 'travels'.I constantly seek hints and advice from my neighbouring, and usually more knowledgeable, plot holders and will pass on anything I think is of general use via this blog.